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Puri district

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Puri district

Puri district is a coastal district of the Odisha state of India. It has one sub-division, 11 tahasils and 11 blocks and comprises 1722 revenue villages. Puri is the only municipality of the district. Konark, Nimapada, Pipili, Satyabadi and Kakatpur are the NACs in this district and Brahmagiri is a semi-urban town.

The district is named after its capital city, Puri. In Sanskrit, the word "Puri" means town or city. The city is an important seat of Vaishnavism, and is home to the noted Jagannath Temple built by Anantavarman Chodaganga in the mid 12th century CE.

Like many other parts of Odisha, the Puri district contains Pleistocene river gravels and silts. So far, no prehistoric stone tools have been found in this region, although they are found in similar formations (river gravels, secondary laterite pits and murrams) in the nearby districts of Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj, Kendujhar and Sundergarh.

In the dramatic poem Anargharāghava, believed to date from approximately the 9th century CE, the town of Puri was called Purusottama. The name of the town is given as Purusottama Kshetra in the records of Anangabhima Deva III from the 13th century CE. The town was given this name, or Purusottama Chhatar or simply Chhatar, in the records of the Mughal Empire, the Maratha Empire, and the early British rulers. In the Yogini Tantra and the Kalika Purana the town is referred to as Purusottam, and the Puri region was known as Utkal.

Purusottama Kshetra became referred to as Purusottama Puri, then contracted into Kshetra or Chhatra, or simply Puri. In many early British records this town is known by the name Pooree.

Under Mughal Rule (1592–1751), Odisha was divided into three circars for the purpose of revenue administration, Jaleswar, Bhadrak and Kataka. Current-day Puri was part of Kataka circar. After the Marathas occupied Odisha in 1751, they divided Odisha into the Pipli, Kataka, Soro and Balasore chakalas. The chakala of Pipli included major portions of the modern district of Puri.

After the conquest of Odisha by the British in 1803, the province was divided into the Northern and Southern Divisions with the river Mahanadi forming the boundary. Robert Ker and Charles Groeme were appointed as judge, magistrate, and collector in Northern and Southern Divisions respectively. By 1805 both divisions were amalgamated; Groeme was replaced, and Ker became the judge and magistrate of the whole province. By 1818 the Office of the Commissioner was established and Robert Ker became the first commissioner.

In October 1828, the province was divided into three districts, Balasore, Cuttack and Jagannath, which was later renamed Puri. In 1912, the new province of Bihar and Orissa was formed, including these three districts. Orissa (now Odisha) became a separate province in 1936 and was merged with the states of Nayagarh, Daspalla, Khandapara and Ranapur in 1948. A separate sub-division comprising these ex-states was added to Puri district, with headquarters at Nayagarh. Bhubaneswar was merged with the district in 1959. At this point the district comprised four sub-divisions: Puri Sadar, Khurdha, Bhubaneswar and Nayagarh.

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